Sugar Land man bowls competition at Senior Olympics

FACES IN THE CROWDStewart's love of sport helps keep him active

When Sugar Land resident Tom Stewart, 74, competed with his doubles bowling partner LeRoy Eichberger, 77, at this year's Senior Olympics in June, he said he had to pay careful attention to every move.

"My partner and I didn't exchange even half a dozen words during the entire competition," said Stewart. They won gold medals at the competition in Pittsburgh.

Stewart said that at the very moment when he walked up to the bowling lane to take his shot, he had nothing in particular on his mind.

"You do all the thinking before you get up there," he said. "But once you set up your shot, it's like your body moves automatically.

"You get into the zone where you have a routine that you follow, and your muscles just know what to do," he said.

Stewart scored 561 points during the qualifying round at the competition, and his partner scored 610 points. At the finals, Stewart scored 664 points, averaging more than 200 points a game, and his partner scored 561 points.

"We won it by a pretty handy margin," Stewart said. "Things just sort of fell our way."

Born in Lufkin but raised in the Houston area, Stewart has been bowling since childhood, starting with his stepfather, Rex Hudiburgh.

"I used to go to the bowling center with him and watch," Stewart said. "He'd let me bowl a game or two here and there, and I became fascinated with it."

He said what he likes most about bowling is that it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

"You have the 90-year-old bowler, and then you have the kiddos who bowl on an outing with their families," Stewart said.

Nothing is like the feeling of rolling a strike, he said.

"There's one thing about bowling, and that's that if you roll a strike, then you've done as good as any professional has done, and that feels good," he said. "In golf, I can't approach a drive of what Tiger Woods has done. It's not physically possible."

As a young man, Stewart bowled for his high school team at Milby High School in Houston Independent School District, winning a citywide tournament.

He worked at a bowling center to pay for his college tuition. In 1952-53, while in college, he also bowled at the American Bowling Congress tournament.

After earning a degree in industrial psychology, he served in the U.S. Army for two years, 16 months of which were spent in Korea. Then he went on to work in the public relations department of Shell Oil Co., where he worked until his retirement in 1991.

Stewart always has bowled. He joined company and church leagues.

His son, Steve Stewart, 44, who now works as the membership/marketing manager for Houstonian Lite Health Club in Sugar Land, said that while he was growing up, bowling was always part of the family routine.

"I remember as a kid, once a week, dad was always in leagues, and we'd be dropped off at day care. It goes back all the way to when I was a toddler," he said.

Tom Stewart now bowls with two leagues: The Coffee Clubbers at Dynamic Lanes in Sharpstown and The Southwest Volunteers at Emerald Bowl in Alief.

In 1993, he bowled at the ABC tournament once again and has been doing so each year. He began bowling at the Senior Olympics in 1997 and has won nine gold medals, eight silver and five bronze, including a state single's title, a state doubles final and a most recently his national doubles title this summer.

Tom Stewart said that during competition season, which usually runs from August to May, he tries to get in at least two days of practice a week.

He said staying active has been the key to his success.

"The secret to staying mentally young is to remain as active as the body will let you," said Stewart.

Tom Stewart and his partner LeRoy Eichberger have said winning the Senior Olympics has been great honor.

"I think it's great," Eichberger said. "I hope it opens the eyes of other seniors to get out and do things and not become couch potatoes."

Tom Stewart's daughter Lyn Stewart, 42, managing editor for Click2Houston.com, said her father is an inspiration.

"He never slows down, even if he has a pain in his hand. He's had several surgeries on his hand. He does rehab, and then he gets out there again. He just doesn't slow down."

And he's not planning to slow down anytime soon. Aside from bowling, Tom Stewart also teaches public relations courses at the university level.

He is a deacon at Sugar Creek Baptist Church, and is part of a crisis communications response team being established to help companies deal with the media when crises arise.

Stewart plans to continue what he does.

"Frankly, I just want to continue enjoying what I'm doing, thanking the Lord that he gives me the opportunity to continue," he said. "It's a blessing that I can continue doing what I'm doing."